These people don’t

We reproduce the following communication to Mr Hunt from a constituent:

Why am I not surprised you’re the one blocking a moratorium on new wind farms, Greg?

Myself and others have discussed this issue with you for years … John Stone, Alby Shultz and Samantha Stepnall are just a few noteable examples.

You give the impression to all that you understand the serious implications of industrial wind turbines, appearing sympathetic and genuinely concerned … and then you demonstrate a totally different mindset via your actions.

So what are your motives and on what basis do you justify protection of the wind industry despite the mounting evidence and first hand testimonials? You represent the people, you have a duty of care.

I have been telling many for years not to trust Greg Hunt because he says one thing and then does another. They all believe me now.

Come out of the closet and declare your interests, Greg.

We are all looking forward to more of your feeble excuses and warped logic. I’m sure you won’t disappoint.

But believe me when I say if you have any intention of sticking around in politics, the evidence is mounting faster than you can bury it and the truth always finds a way to come out.

If not for the sake of the many communities adversely affected or soon to be, then for the sake of your career at least … make sure you are on the right side of the truth. The Greens can see this – what are you hiding that prevents you from doing the same?

And with that, we at STT might say the answer is blowin’ in the wind, my friends, just blowin’ in the wind. Thanks Bob.

Twitter twits

What is is about social media, Green zealots and University of Sydney academics?

140 characters and a new tweet every hour and somehow that’s supposed to mean something … a statement, or even a campaign.

Old Greenies, and there are a few in our group, used to be in the front line, in the trenches.

“We were members of the Greens when it meant something,” they say.

Now we have a new breed of keyboard cowards.

A frequent tweeter, Infigen’s Ketan Joshi emerged out of the murky waters of Babcock and Brown. As far as we can tell, the colour of their water hasn’t changed all that much. We are working on future posts about that lot.

As he was writing this stuff the Daniel Shepherd paper had been in the public domain for a year – peer reviewed, published. Dr Nina Pierpont’s peer-reviewed study was out, plus a host of other research on low frequency noise which we have referred to elsewhere on this site.

And Professor Henrik Moller and Professor Christian Sejer Pedersen published the following article in mid-2011 using the wind industry’s own figures.

And then there’s Cam Walker from Friends of the Earth. Cam believes if you have a different opinion, you’re the enemy. But that’s the FOE.

You’d think they would oppose thousands of hectares of countryside being industrialized by turbines, or the thousands of birds being killed every year. (Read this.)

FOE refuses to see the irony of lining up alongside some of the biggest energy companies in the world. And fossil fuel companies now invest in wind, Cam. Don’t you get it?

So it’s your hypocrisy that rankles most.

What on earth exactly are you a friend of?

In our opinion, you want to kill the environment to “save” it.

Wouldn’t it be better to engage than take childish shots through Twitter? (Or maybe something else is going on between big wind and the FOE?)

At one stage, you were making noises of sympathy about people getting sick from WTS. But that was just a pretense. Part of your “I’ll pretend to be your friend so I can find stuff out” strategy. It’s a schoolyard manifesto.

And we’re intrigued by the FOE’s dramatic increase in income in recent years. One lot of figures we saw showed your annual Australian income leaping to the following quite impressive levels.

2004 – $77,000

2006 – $157,000

2008 – $420,000

2009 – $592,000

2010 – $794,000

These figures are, apparently, outside of donations.

Anyway, we’ve decided. People are getting sick right across this country from WTS and you both want to play Twitter games?

Life is too short to engage with twerps – even in 140 characters or less. We’ve blocked you both.

We thought long and hard about whether to include Milne in this section. Without being offensive, criticizing Milne on a site like this appears a little too obvious and a little too easy.

Additionally, at least one of our group is a former Greens member. And all of us would say we have an adherence to a philosophy of sustainability and taking care of our planet.

But the Greens party has lost its way. It has certainly lost its connection to grass roots people who aspire to live in communities in a sustainable and fair manner.

Milne’s speech in Parliament (November, 2012) was a rant of truly hysterical proportions.

In the current style of the Greens, it consisted mainly of personal attack.

Additionally, there were repeated accusations of secret funding and astroturfing by those who oppose wind farms. (Hansard records Milne used the word “astroturf” more than 50 times in an 11-minute speech.)

We encourage you to watch her speech. Our friends at Wind Wise Radio have captured part of it and others here.

(Scroll down once you get to the link.)

We’re just disappointed we weren’t around when she gave it. STT would have loved to have been included in her “fossil-fueled fake grass roots campaign against wind farms”. Damn it!

But this gets to the heart of the matter for us.

The Greens and its supporters are undoubtedly the greatest astroturfers in modern Australia. We have seen this first hand. These days environmental organizations are well-funded, frequently by companies seeking to make profits in self-appointed “green” industries.

There is a level of expediency in this sector that not only borders on corruption (actually, it is corrupt) but is hidden behind a “holier than thou” veneer.

It is clear to us that Australians are waking up to the Greens, to their lack of honesty and their political thuggery, and not least of all, to their “we have to destroy the environment to save it” approach to rampant wind turbine installation.

Simon Chapman BA (Hons) (UNSW), PhD (USyd), FASSA

Chapman has been a tenacious scoffer of those who claim any ill-health from wind turbines. He is a sociologist and currently employed as the Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney.

He made his fame as an anti-tobacco activist. (Some critics have said this was “going for the low fruit” in public health.) He has been known to post blog comments under pseudonyms and loves a good internet stoush. (We look forward to your posts, Simon.)

Anti wind farm campaigners, however, said he refused to engage face-to-face when they were all in the same room at a National Health and Medical Research Council gathering.

Chapman is a vigorous user of social media and an Australian media darling (dare we say tart).

His CV runs to 56 pages and has its own index. (The only thing it doesn’t tell us is his pin number). But on wind farms, Chapman doesn’t get it.

Simon Holmes a Court

Simon is the son of Robert Holmes a Court, Australia’s first businessman to be worth over $1 million. But according to Wikipedia, Robert died intestate, leaving debts greater than his assets and no will.

Simon is founding chair of Hepburn Wind, Australia’s first self-proclaimed community wind farm. Holmes a Court told the Senate inquiry his organization operated on “radical transparency” but frequently cites “privacy issues” or “commercial in confidence” reasons for keeping details of the wind farm’s shareholders and performance a secret.

Hepburn Wind has arrived at a stand-off with some local residents who claimed of ill-health soon after its two turbines began operation.

HW claims it wants to consult with them, while affected locals say they don’t trust him or his organization.

“Community” wind farms are the future, says Holmes a Court. We see this as just another catch-cry by the wind farm white shoe brigade to justify riding rough-shod over people’s lives. In the end, the corporate social responsibility ethos is easy to spin. But in our opinion it’s always about money.

Katter is on the record as being a wind farm supporter – but we like his apt turn of phrase. And up in Queensland, wind farms are generally built well away from communities.

But the ALP has been a big wind farm supporter, both federally and at state level.

Ex-Prime Minister Julia Gillard (right) thinks they’re Jim Dandy – and a sure way to capture the inner-city green vote that is deserting her party in droves.

In Victoria, former premier John Brumby gave the green light to a whole slew of wind farms, bypassing proper planning avenues, just before he lost the state election.

ALP local members across Australia generally refuse to even discuss the issue.

Take Federal Member for Ballarat Catherine King for instance.

She definitely doesn’t get it.

For more than three years she’s had one of the largest wind farms in the southern hemisphere on her doorstep.

Waubra wind farm is also one of the most controversial – a development owned and operated by Spanish multinational Acciona. And an operation other developers (we understand) quietly wish had never happened because of the significant amount of negative publicity it has generated.

Waubra actually sits in the Federal seat of Wannon, held by Liberal Dan Tehan.

But we believe King continues to ignore complaints from Waubra residents who went to her office because of its proximity and the ALP’s government position. Hepburn residents opposing Hepburn Wind Farm, which is in her electorate, also get no hearing. Her standard response is that wind farms are a state matter.

King is, however, apparently miffed at the large number of anti-wind farm constituents traipsing into the Ballarat office of DLP Senator John Madigan just up the road.

We believe the fact that King’s husband, Mark Karlovic, now works for GDF SUEZ Energy Australia, the owner and operator of the $92.5 million Canunda Wind Farm in South Australia, has nothing to do with her views on the issue.

As an aside, The Courier reported in 2012 King had taken to flying overseas first class, spending more than $50,000 on just two overseas trips. We thought the pointy end of the plane was reserved for heads of state and royalty. After holding the seat of Ballarat since 2001, she obviously realizes her gig may be up and is out to grab all the perks she can.

On November 29 he said there was not a problem of “so-called” wind farm syndrome anywhere else in the world, except in Australia, Canada and in the UK. He said this was because English was the native-tongue in those countries.

Do you believe this? Do you believe such a clear thinker is also a Senator? Aren’t we lucky to have him?

We have only two questions.

1. What do we do with this bloke?

2. And why would someone with an obviously closed mind on an issue put up his hand to chair a committee on it? (Rhetorical question. We know why.)

It’s interesting to us that Cameron was parroting the latest propaganda from Chapman and other pro-windies about WTS not happening in Europe.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

And (of course) he ignored a 10-page letter Sarah Laurie sent on November 22, which he had requested. The letter had nine attachments.

Laurie’s final sentence in the document was: “Please don’t ignore the suffering of these people.”

Nice try Sarah. We admire your energy and persistence. But Doug “the slug”, you clearly don’t get it. In fact, we agree with the bloke with the sign.

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Comments

Everyone needs to email Daniel Andrews the Victorian Premier inviting him to take up a challenge and spend a few nights on there property close to turbines or just send same email showing there disgust about 1km set backs he bought in and how ill informed he is about health impacts etc. Send the same email everyday until he drowns in them. Come on everyone lets fight back in numbers don’t remain silent.

We we live just over 2 km from 62 industrial wind turbines that are 125 metres tall – that were installed by the now defunct Babcock & Brown, now Infigen.

We have had only had shockingly bad experiences with this company and their employees. When the wind blows, the noise levels are constantly above what was in the planning conditions. B&B/Infigen has never consulted with the community in a meaningful way. They never listened, but only told people what was good for them.

Everyone must work together and start marching on Parliament and tell our Politicians, who put us in this mess, just how bad things are.

Simon Holmes a Court has gone to ground. Why? Because his scam has backfired and shareholders are wanting a return on their money. No Wind, no Money.

Hepburn Wind are so desperate that they are destroying our beautiful gum trees to get more wind. The gumtrees screened my property from the turbines. Initially I could only see a tip of one blade from my home (500m and 700m from the turbines) and now I can see most of the turbines. Everyone needs to take photos of their property and surrounds before turbines are in place. I knew Hepburn Wind were underhanded but had no idea they would stoop to this level.

What will be their undoing is that they are refusing to hand over wind readings to V.C.A.T. The Hepburn Town Planners are hand in hand with Hepburn Wind and have closed their eyes and not checked any V.C.A.T. amendments.

Well, Ketan Joshi is at it again with this post with the blessing of Robyn Williams. He cites Simaon Chapman as his peer-review angel. Chapman has already been exposed as a fraud and coward on this issue by demonizing people who have already passed the peer-review process.

People who don’t get it but must surely have a conscience:-
Murray Bleach
Board Member, IFM, owner of Pacific Hydro
Joined IFM in 2010
Murray is Chair of the IFM Board Investment Committee and has over 30 years experience in the finance industry. He originally worked as a Chartered Accountant for KPMG Peat Marwick in Sydney, Australia and Dallas, Texas. His move into financial services came in 1987, when he joined Bankers Trust Australia. Murray joined Macquarie Group as part of Macquarie’s acquisition of Bankers Trust Australia and moved to the US in 1999. During this time he built the infrastructure business from a small team of six to a team of more than 140 executives. In July 2004, Murray was appointed Head of North America and Director and Co-CEO of Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc and President of Macquarie Holdings (USA) Inc. During this period Murray acted as Chairman or Director on over 60 Macquarie-entity boards. Murray retired from Macquarie in December 2009. He is a non-executive director of Eraring Energy, currently sitting on its Audit and Risk, Safety and Compensation committees. Murray is also a non-executive director of the internet start-up company, Zanbato, a web-based listing service and bulletin board for infrastructure and alternative assets. He joined the board of Suicide Prevention Australia in September 2011.

People who don’t get it but must surely have a conscience:-
Garry Weaven
Chair, IFM, owner of Pacific Hydro
Joined IFM in 2003
Garry is Chair of Industry Funds Management, a global fund manager owned by a number of Australian superannuation (pension) funds, and of Pacific Hydro, a leading Australian renewable energy company with extensive operations in Australia and South America. He is also a Director of Members Equity Bank and was a foundation Board member of Melbourne’s Docklands Authority as well as its successor, VicUrban. Garry was appointed to the Federal Government’s Superannuation Advisory Committee in 2008 and to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s External Advisory Panel in 2009. Garry’s involvement in superannuation and funds management follows a successful career in the Australian union movement, which culminated in him being elected Assistant Secretary of the ACTU in 1986. Garry played a seminal role in the development of the industry superannuation fund movement and in 1994 founded Industry Fund Services, the forerunner to a number of collectively owned financial service providers, including IFM.

People who don’t get it but must surely have a conscience:-
Linda Rubinstein
Board Member of IFM, owner of Pacific Hydro
Joined IFM in 2013
Linda has served on IFM’s Investor Advisory Board and was the Chair of the Australian Government Employees Superannuation Trust (AGEST) until its merger with AustralianSuper. She was a union nominee to the board of HOSTPLUS and an ACTU nominee to the Board of Cbus. Linda has a part-time role with Holding Redlich, where she is Director of the firm’s Pro-Bono practice, and enjoyed a long period of employment at the ACTU, where her responsibilities included industrial legislation and superannuation.

I am a member of the Heartland Farmers Group, who are opposing the Ceres Wind Turbine Project. He has decided to denigrate very good people, fourth and fifth generation farmers, who suddenly find themselves in the middle of an industrial electricity generating complex, which will severely impede their farming operations, not to mention the hundreds of seaside property owners who are finding that the value of their properties will drop. Two sales have fallen through all ready, because of the Wind Turbines.

At last I know why Catherine King has not replied to or acknowledged my three letters, two of them hand delivered to her office in Ballarat. No politician State or Federal can afford to treat his or her constituents with the contempt Ms King does. Every vote counts. Even if her husband Mark works for a wind company her attitude to renewable energy in the form of wind should be balanced and unbiased. The state issue excuse is just a get out as the REC’s are certainly not.Hopefully there will be other Labor politicians who will show a bit more compassion than Catherine, who completely ignores any mention of adverse health effects suffered by people forced to live too close to turbines. One day she will be old and at the mercy of young focus groups who make city based decisions and have no idea what goes on outside the metropolitan area.

Perhaps Neil Barrett of the Mt. Alexander Sustainability Group would be a candidate for people who do not get it. He has been harassing people here in Waubra telling them they have nothing wrong with them and are imagining their symptoms. A landowner who hosts turbines could not even convince him that some neighbours were suffering. He quotes a paper more than 6years old he wrote while in Europe.(not peer reviewed perhaps)The Mount Alexander Group are now trying to force 4 turbines onto the Baringup Community against their wishes.

PS. It seems money (RECs) are more important than rural residents being impacted by INDUSTRIAL wind turbines which people are led to believe are a type of windmill. They should be under industrial planning and subject to such state planning as any industry.

SIMON CHAPMAN is supposed to be into health but all he seems to do is denigrate those who have the sense to oppose useless expensive destructive turbines. I can’t wait to have someone who can show him up for his ignorance. He should be sent to live near the mechanical monsters for at least 12 months.

Thanks for the new website. Just a note to let you know that Bob Katter supports wind farms, but only where they won’t affect people’s wellbeing and livelihoods. In Queensland, developers want to put giant turbines within 600m of residences. Queensland has NO turbine setbacks! The new state government doesn’t want to stop any development which might boost employment (however temporary).